Synopsis: Ivy Westfall is beyond the fence and she is alone. Abandoned by her family and separated from Bishop Lattimer, Ivy must find a way to survive on her own in a land filled with countless dangers, both human and natural. She has traded a more civilized type of cruelty--forced marriages and murder plots--for the bare-knuckled brutality required to survive outside Westfall's borders.But there is hope beyond the fence, as well. And when Bishop reappears in Ivy's life, she must decide if returning to Westfall to take a final stand for what she believes is right is worth losing everything she's fought for.
This book is the sequel to "The Book of Ivy", a book I read earlier this year and for the most part enjoyed, though I did have my issues, as it was not entirely what I expected. That being said, I came in with a lot of hopes and questions I wanted to be answered.
Unfortunately those hopes and questions were left as is. As a dystopian novel, it didn't really satisfy the questions I had from the previous book. I really wanted to know how their society came to be as it is, what happened to the world, etc., and those questions weren't answered. For the most part, this book was a huge let down. Most of the plot was side plot, and didn't really focus on the main issue at hand. The real plot and action didn't even come until like 66% into the book, which was a huge bummer for me.
I really didn't like the first 40% or so of the book and seriously thought about putting it down. To me it was rather boring and didn't have the same spark and writing that I enjoyed in the first book. Reading about Ivy on the other side of the fence and the new characters she met wasn't all that interesting to me, and was rather predictable. I only became really happy again int the book when Bishop resurfaced. Honestly, if it weren't for Bishop, I would not like this book, or this duology. He is honestly my favorite character and makes everything worth it. Bishop is a kind of guy I wish I had.
When the main action of the plot happened, I felt like it moved way to fast and wasn't in the least book unpredictable. Overall I feel like most of the book was just filler headed in one direction.
Ending wise, it was okay I guess. I wrapped everything up and gave a nice resolution, but I felt like it was almost too nice and easy. It made everything from the first book and the first half of this book seem pointless to be honest.
For the most part, I just powered through this book to see how it would end. I felt like so much more could have happened and that is such a letdown for me coming from the first book. You know what would almost make up for it though? Both books in Bishop's POV. That would almost make up for it.